In automobiles having a foot-operated clutch pedal and a manually operated gearshift lever, the clutch pedal is normally located at the left of the steering column center line for operation by the left foot, with the brake pedal at the near right of the center line and the accelerator pedal at the right of the brake pedal. The accelerator pedal and the brake pedal are operated selectively by the right foot.
In vehicles having automatic transmissions, the clutch pedal is eliminated and the brake pedal position is retained but is extended laterally to the left so that it can be operated by the left foot as well as the right. However, it is customary to operate the brake pedal with the right foot by shifting it laterally to the left from the accelerator to the brake pedal, and this shift of the right foot position has been shown to require at least one second in time, which allows the vehicle to travel about 80 feet at 55 miles per hour.
If the brake pedal is operated by the left foot instantaneously upon the occurrence of an emergency, approximately one second can be saved, greatly reducing the probability of accident, but this requires the constant presence of the left foot on the brake pedal as the normal position of the left foot on the floor beside the pedal would also require about the same one second time interval to shift the left foot onto the brake pedal. If this time interval is eliminated by having the left foot constantly positioned on the brake pedal, the resulting dragging force on the brakes causes rapid brake wear and increased fuel consumption.